2022 Chicago Bears Tight ends: Better, worse, or push when compared to a year ago

We asked our Windy City Gridiron staffers to answer a series of questions for a pre-season roundtable about the Chicago Bears’ 2022 position groups. Are the players in those rooms better, worse, or a push from the groups they had for the 2021 season?

We took the answers one position at a time and will roll them out all week long. Let us know your thoughts about the tight end position in the comment section below, but first, check out what we had to say here.

Better

Lester Wiltfong: Jimmy Graham wasn’t a factor a season ago, so his reps going to younger players and his targets going to Cole Kmet makes this group better. And much like I’m excited to see how O.C. Luke Getsy uses his receivers, I think his scheme will benefit the tight ends and allow their skills to shine.

Worse

Sam Householder: This strikes me as a position group where the best player might be better, but the rest got worse. Say what you want about 2021 Jimmy Graham, but at least he had experience, and you knew what you were getting, even if it was just red zone targets.

Push

Peter Borkowski: This opinion could be moot if Cole Kmet has a big breakout season. Even then, the depth featured last year (i.e., Jesse James and Jimmy Graham) is gone, so it’s the Kmet show this year, for better or worse.

ECD: Cole Kmet might take the biggest leap of any Chicago Bear in 2022. Aside from him, it’s a wash from what we saw in 2021. At least there are no more concerns about forcing a player past their prime to be the biggest difference maker.

Josh Sunderbruch: Push. I really hope Kmet steps forward.

Jack Salo: Kmet is a terrific breakout candidate for fantasy football, and it will be great to see what he can do with 7-8 targets per game. At the very least, he should have more touchdowns. The rest of the room is... well, let’s just hope Kmet stays healthy.

Aaron Leming: Yes, losing Jimmy Graham (on paper) isn’t ideal, but if Cole Kmet takes another step forward, they can easily replace the rest of his production with a guy like Ryan Griffin. I’d like to see a bit more upside at this position, but so would most NFL teams right now. This is likely a group that’ll need an infusion of youth next off-season, but it’ll work for the time being.

We put the tight end question on Twitter, and here’s how that poll went.